British Science Week at Wellington: An Interconnected World

Science Week is an exciting opportunity for everyone in school to talk science, see science and do science! 

“I love that science explains the world around me. It’s everywhere.  To me, science doesn’t just explain life, science is life.”

– Helen Sharman, Astronaut 

British Science Week is an annual large-scale celebration of science in the UK organised by the British Science Association, aiming to raise the public’s attention to the development of science through science-related activities and experiments. It has different themes every year and the theme for 2023 is, ‘Connections’, advocating togetherness among people and increased attention to the connections in our surroundings. Interconnection is a strong power, and it is true to scientific investigations as we discover how connections exist across all areas of science. Evolution, for example, shows us the ways that animals, plants and bacteria are all connected through millions of years. Following the proud tradition of pursuing academic excellence at Wellington College UK, Wellington College International Hangzhou introduced British Science Week years ago and has held Science Week every year. Closely intertwined with our STEAM course, Science Week at Wellington allows science learning to exceed textbook study and motivates pupils to dive into scientific exploration. This year, we adopted the same theme as British Science Week – ‘Connections’, and encouraged Wellington pupils to think about scientific theories through engaging experiments. We hope these activities help pupils to investigate the wide science world and reveal the essence behind a phenomenon. 

Take a closer look at the plethora of activities that took place during Science Week 2023 

The primary English national curriculum includes science as a core subject taught to children between the ages of 5 and 11. The objectives of science education in the curriculum are, typically, to help pupils understand the natural world and its phenomena and develop scientific thinking and reasoning skills. Pupils are often taught to observe, describe, classify, and measure objects and events in the natural world and to develop explanations and theories about how they work.  

In our primary school, we adapted the ‘connections’ theme to make it more relevant to our pupils. To launch the week, we created a crime scene where Mr Coleman's cherished cow ornament went missing after a staff meeting in his office, with the suspects being one of the teachers or teaching assistants in the primary school. Thankfully, Mr Gilloway was on hand to investigate and discovered one clue daily. First, however, he needed the help of our young scientists to help him eliminate the suspects and catch the culprit.  

Alongside our crime scene and daily science clues, each year group also had the opportunity to conduct a hands-on activity or experiment, where they could manipulate materials, observe and record results. This process helped to engage our pupils and make the learning experiences more meaningful and memorable.  

Year 1 created life-sized body maps with support from EY3. This activity involved pupils drawing around themselves on large paper rolls and labelling their body parts. It deepened their understanding from earlier in the year when they studied a unit entitled 'Who Am I?'. Pupils loved using jelly in moulds to create jiggly hearts and brains! 

Year 2 conducted an investigation over time, investigating the link between using soap and mould growth. Pupils enjoyed seeing how long it took for mould to grow on three pieces of bread after touching one with an unwashed hand, one with a washed hand and wiping one piece of bread on our class set of iPads. 

Year 3 deepened their understanding of the skeletal and muscular systems by creating a 'robotic' hand and a pasta skeleton. 

Year 4 investigated tooth decay using eggshells to replicate teeth. Egg shells are made from calcium carbonate, which is similar to tooth enamel. Year 4 soaked eggs in various beverages for three days to investigate if the acids weaken the eggshells. They ended the week by bringing in their toothbrushes and brushing their teeth. They then used disclosure tablets highlighting any plaque on teeth to show the missing spots when brushing their teeth. 

Year 5 got the chance to experience a heart dissection which was a fascinating experience at the core of our circulatory system and our body as a whole. Pupils could see the four chambers of the heart and the vessels going into and out of the heart. As part of the investigation, some pupils measured the ventricles to establish which had the most prominent muscle. 

Year 6 investigated DNA and extracted DNA from strawberries. DNA, or Deoxyribonucleic Acid, is the molecule of life. DNA exists in every single organism, from the smallest bacteria to the largest mammal, and is the only known molecule that can replicate itself. Year 6 learned that a strawberry is octoploid. That means they have eight copies of each type of DNA chromosome. Human cells are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes. Therefore, there is much more DNA to extract from a strawberry leading to higher success rates for pupils. 

Parents also had the opportunity to get involved with Science Week and conducted an experiment alongside their children on Wednesday in our science labs. Parents and pupils learned about hydrogels – water-absorbing polymers commonly found in nappies or diapers. These are polymers which have the unusual property of being able to absorb vast quantities of water. Parents and pupils extracted hydrogels from a nappy or diaper and slowly added 100ml of water each time to see how much water the hydrogel or nappy could hold. We discovered that, on average, nappies could hold 500ml of water.   

Our primary school pupils were very excited to be invited to the senior school’s state-of-the-art science labs to conduct their experiments. It was an exhilarating experience for our primary pupils and their parents! 

Pupils thoroughly enjoyed the week. However, most pupils selected solving the mystery of Mr Coleman's missing cow as their highlight.  

"The crime was fun and very mysterious. We learned a lot about science from completing all the clues. Everyone in the class thinks a different member of staff did it. I think it is Ms. Yang as she is roughly the same height, around 166cm, has brown or blonde hair, and always writes in black whiteboard markers."  

- Lena, Y6